BARKER
HOUSE, MANITOU
SPRINGS.
Boudoir card, 5 1/4" x
8" .View of the Barker House, Manitou Springs. W. E. Hook, Manitou Springs, Colorado photographer's
backmark. Originally built in 1872, Charles Barker purchased the
property and eventually remodeled and increased the size until Barker
House had 100 rooms!. Barker eventually lost the property due to
renovation costs, though stayed on as manager until his death in 1905.
1895 pencil notation and date on back.Image exhibits some wear and soiling,
overall Fine
(Cl.82); $200.

COLORADO
- CABINET CARD – UNION DEPOT DENVER .Cabinet
card, 6 ¾x 4 1/2. Image
of the Union Depot in Denver ; title in negative, along with descriptiveaccount of Denver on back. Photographed
by A.A. Marti, published by Robt. Davis, DenverColorado . Some light soiling and wear,image exhibits good tonality and contrast, some light dampstaining
on back of mount, overall VG-Fine. (cc615); $145.

COLORADO
- CABINET CARD – CLEAR CREEK CANON – TRAIN ON TRACK . Cabinet card, 6 ¾x 4 1/2.Descriptiveaccount of Clear Creek, Georgetown and Vicinity on
back The Georgetown Loop Railroad was one of Colorado’s first visitor
attractions. This spectacular stretch ofnarrow gauge railroad was completed in 1884 and considered an
engineering marvel for its time. The thriving mining towns of Georgetown
and Silver Plume lie 2 milesapart
in the steep, narrow canyon of Clear Creek in the Rocky Mountains west of
Denver. Engineers designed a corkscrew route that traveled nearly twice
that distance to connect them, slowly gaining more than 600 feet in
elevation. The route included horseshoe curves,and four bridges across Clear Creek, including the massive
Devil’s Gate High Bridge. Photographed by A.A. Martin, published by Robt.
Davis, DenverColorado .
Scarcer vantage point than normally photographe.Some light soiling and wear, image exhibits good tonality and
contrast, overall Fine.
(cc609)$125.

COLORADO
-TABOR GRAND OPERA HOUSE
PROGRAM 1890. 9 1/2 x 7, 22pp, plus color wraps. Week commencing
June 6, 1890 . Numerous advertisements for the local merchants( less
than a program than a means of advertising, with small stories and
comments scattered within). Overall
Fine cond. Cl351.$85.

The Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver was the most opulent building
between Chicago and San Francisco at its gala debut on September 5th 1881.
Constructed at 16th and Curtis, the "Tabor Grand" changed
Denver's image of itself overnight; from an upstart prairie boomtown to a
place worthy of world-class cultureThe cutting-edge building was regarded
as the best-equipped theater between the midwest and San Francisco, and
cost in the neighborhood of $850,000, in 1881 dollars--a truly phenomenal
sum for the time.

Horace Tabor was born in Orleans County, Vt., on Nov. 26, 1830. He left
home while still in his teens and became a stonecutter. In 1855 he
migrated to Kansas. While farming there, he also served in the Free State
legislature; neither endeavor proved rewarding, so he joined the Pike's
Peak gold rush in 1859. For the next 18 years Tabor's activities shifted
from camp to camp, where he gained mining experience and operated a store.
The merchant-miner combination produced a steady income, but his chance
for wealth came with the opening of the Leadville, Colo., silver mines. A
fortunate grubstake by Tabor to two prospectors in 1878 led to the
discovery of the Little Pittsburg Mine and his first million dollars; then
successful investments parlayed his worth to $5-7 million. Tabor invested
in mines in almost all the western states and Mexico. Once he was
financially secure, he turned to politics. He served two terms as
Republican lieutenant governor of Colorado (1879-1883) and hoped to become
a senator, but after an expensive and bitter campaign in 1882-1883 he was
chosen by the legislature only to fill an unexpired 30-day term. Later
attempts for the party's gubernatorial nomination failed, but he liberally
supported the Republicans despite the rebuffs. Tabor moved to Denver in
1879 and significantly contributed to the city's growth. The first of the
Colorado mining millionaires to invest his fortune at home, he built the
Tabor Block and the famous Tabor Grand Opera House. He displayed his
confidence in the future of the state by investing in Leadville and other
towns and helping to open the San Juan, Gunnison, and Aspen areas. This
faith in western growth led Tabor into marginal investments which failed.
By the late 1880s decreasing mine production and a falling silver price
forced him to mortgage sound holdings to continue development. When the
economic crash of 1893 came, his business-mining empire was debt-ridden.
Collapse followed, and a final Mexican mining venture failed to save
Tabor. Appointed Denver postmaster in 1898, he died on April 10, 1899. The
scandal of Tabor's divorce from Augusta Pierce and his remarriage to
Elizabeth McCourt (Baby) Doe in 1883 made him a pariah to many
contemporaries, but he outlived the stigma. Douglas Moore's opera The
Ballad of Baby Doe (1955) is based on the event.

ALBUM
OF VIEWS
ON THE DENVER & RIO GRANDE. W.
H. Lawrence & Co., Denver, Colorado 1886. Accordian-style series of
views from the train, bound in red cloth with giltpictorial vista and
gilt lettering on the front board. "Album of Views on the
Denver & Rio Grande\" With 21 Railroad views from the railroad
line, containing. views from Garden of the gods and Pike's Peak, Manitou,
Sierra Blanca , Fremont Pass Mount of the Holly Cross, Black Canyon and
many more. Fine
condition. $200.